It's been a long time. Too long. So sorry. Thank you so much for the reviews, and enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

"He poisoned you against—sonofabitch!"

Dean was standing up and pacing. The look of fury in his eyes was that to match an angel in "smiting mode," as Dean had once put it. Castiel could tell Dean was going to get worked up quickly and he would never be able to finish his story. If he kept interrupting and throwing in snarky comments they would never get done.

"Dean…I'm not done. We still haven't gotten to the part with Gabri—"

Yet again Cas was rudely interrupted by Dean's out of control temper. "Oh, Gabriel, huh? Well I don't think I need to hear the rest of the story. Gabriel can wait. We have stuff to do. Me and you are gonna go smite the shit out of Uriel."

"Dean," Castiel tried, exasperation showing through obviously in his voice. When the hunter was angry, nothing in the world could stop him from throwing himself full throttle into revenge. If Cas didn't stop it Dean might do something stupid.

"Dean!"

The loud rumble of Castiel's voice shook Dean from his mad-man musings and plots of Uriel's oncoming death. It was surprising to hear such a loud sound come from the angel, who was usually so calm and quiet. Cas was just glad he stopped muttering to himself.

"You don't have to worry about Uriel, Dean."

"What do you mean I don't have to worry about Uriel? He tortured you, Cas! He strapped down, and practically killed, a freaking angel of the Lord! How much did he fuck up your head, man? Are you still batshit crazy or something?"

Castiel tried to shake of the words. Dean wasn't trying to be mean, he knew that. He was just insensitive sometimes.

"No Dean, I am not 'batshit crazy.' Uriel is dead."

Dean started to reply, but he once he processed the information his mouth closed abruptly. Had Cas killed him? When? Dean couldn't believe all of this had happened and he hadn't never even bothered to let Cas explain. He hated his goddamn pride.

"Did you…?" he trailed off.

"It's not important right now," Castiel answered. Dean started to say something, probably pointing out that it was important to him, but Castiel stopped him. "It will all be clear when I finish telling my story. Would you let me do that, please?"

The attitude in Castiel's voice was obvious, and Dean didn't want to argue just now. He nodded and Castiel took a deep breath.

Dean was standing in a motel room looking frustrated and antsy while his younger brother sat on a nearby bed and talked on the phone. He was calling Bobby, most likely, and probably asking if there were any leads on what had happened to Cas.

Smiling sinisterly, Cas broke away from the window. He had seen enough. Now he just had to formulate a plan on how to get Dean alone. It was going to be hard, seeing as when Dean wasn't likely to part from Sam in a time of distress. But if he pretended that all was well…

"Hello."

"Cas! What the hell, man? Where the fuck have you been!"

It was more of a statement than a question, really. Dean didn't care where he had been, he was just glad that he was back. Castiel had expected this. He had to play his cards right, for Dean could easily sense when something was off with those he loved.

"Uriel…took me. I'm back now. Is this the latest hunt?"

Trying to change the subject wasn't going to work that easily on Dean, though.

"No, dumbass. We were looking for you!"

"Oh, I…I'm sorry to have caused such a disturbance."

He had to get Dean alone. Dean Winchester had to die. It was Castiel's orders. But he still couldn't ignore that little itch in the back of his head that told him something was off. Why should he kill someone who seemed to care for him so much? What had this man done wrong? Why couldn't he remember?

"Whatever," retorted Dean gruffly. He wasn't going to show just how worried he had been. "Cas, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Dean stared pointedly at Sam. Being the dunce moose of a man that he was, it took him a good thirty seconds to get the message. Relationships always made Sam feel awkward, so he did his best to forget they existed. He made up an awkward excuse having to do with a soda and left the room hastily.

Castiel was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. Dean had just gotten rid of Sam himself. Things were going much better than he had planned.

Had he planned this, though? It didn't feel like it. What was that feeling in the back of his head? It felt like he had forgotten something very important. A life-or-death sort of something. If only he could just remember…

"Seriously, man. Where did you go?" Dean's voice called. He heard it vaguely through his thoughts. He wished that the stupid human would shut up so he could remember whatever it is he seemed to have forgotten.

It didn't make any sense. Angels don't forget things. He had been alive for nearly two thousand years now. Not once had something slipped his mind. And now this? This felt bigger than forgetting to clean the dishes or take out the trash. Much bigger. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Cas? What is i—" Dean started. He was interrupted by a weight flying into his body. It was similar to that night when he told Castiel his feelings, but this time the aftermath wasn't as pleasant. Instead of the angel's lips against his own, he felt a stone fist hit his face.

"What the hell? Get off me! Cas! CAS!"

All of a sudden every hunter bone in Dean's body was screaming. Knife! Knife! Castiel had a knife! No…an angel's blade. That was even worse. Obviously he had gone batshit crazy. There was no reasoning with him right now. Fight first, ask questions later.

It pained Dean to do it, both figuratively and literally (seeing as Cas was like some weirdo stone golem) but it was do or die. He shoved his hand against the blade, which in any other circumstance would have probably been the worst of his ideas.

It wasn't though, but Castiel was in a craze now, and thought he was just an idiot. If he was hurting himself willingly, it was all the better! Less work for Castiel.

It took him a while to notice that Dean's bloody hand was no longer flailing. In fact, it had found a place on the wall and was smearing the red liquid furiously. Before he could do anything, Dean looked up into those blue eyes he used to know so well.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I promise I'll help you. I'm sorry," he whispered.

There was the thud of skin and flesh slamming onto the cheap motel wall, and then it was only light.

"So you were trying to kill me because Uriel clawed around in your Grace?" asked Dean and Castiel nodded. He felt really slow on the uptake here, but this was one of the more confusing stories Dean had heard. Everything he had assumed was false, and now he had to piece the truth together anecdote by anecdote.

"Okay, yeah. I get that. But it still doesn't explain why the hell Gabriel was poking around in our lives."

"I'm sure you understand. You are a big brother as well."

Dean's mouth dropped open. Had he just been compared to Gabriel? The psycho-killer bad-sense-of-humor trickster-angel?

"I'm nothing like Gabriel," he snarled menacingly.

"You are. More than you know, actually. You would do anything to see Sam happy, would you not?"

"Well…Yeah…?"

"Gabriel was just doing the same for me."

Seeing Dean's confused, and somewhat shocked, expression, the angel explained.

"I was in pretty bad shape after that fight. I was sent back to Heaven, where Uriel would have signed me back up for that machine in a second. Luckily, Gabriel found me first. He felt my soul, and reversed what damage he could. Not so luckily, a small amount of negative feelings for you would still remain. It was better than wanting to kill you, though."

Dean stopped him there. Something about Castiel's little speech had troubled him. "Do you still have 'negative feelings' towards me?" He wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer.

"No, they were reversed by Gabriel before he sent us to the alternate reality."

Dean let out a large breathe of air that he had been unaware he was holding. When he thought about Castiel's recent words some more, though, his eyes narrowed.

"If you were mostly okay again, why didn't you come back?" Dean demanded.

"I wasn't at my…best. I thought it was best if you didn't see me like that."

"By 'wasn't at my best,' you mean…?"

"Gabriel did help as much as he could, but I wasn't really the same. He stayed and helped me out. He didn't really have anything else to do anyway, I suppose. I'm glad for that, though. Without him I might not have been able to be here and tell you this story. He saved my life."

Of that, Dean was skeptical. Gabriel was a deceitful angel, and usually never did anything nice unless he had an ulterior in which he benefitted. "How?"

"By sending us to alternate reality."

Please forgive me for the weird ending, but I'm really tired and I can't stay up any longer. More updates real soon, promise.